Thursday, November 30, 2006

There's only one way you can really describe Watchmaker: brutal fucking ass-kicking Grind. Watchmaker is anger incarnate with driving, skull-bashing music and hate-filled, demonic vocals. This is really, really damn fucking good Grind and it will tear you a new asshole and then kick you in it. I'd like to thank David for uploading this album for me.

Thiasos Dionysos is a one man Viking/Folk Metal project a man only known as Groschi. It contains both high black-like and low death-like harsh vocals used to great effect as well as many folk aspects. Everything from acoustics to harpsichords are used in the music and it creates for some awesome Viking Metal to listen to. Highly recommended to fans of Viking and Folk Metal. I'd like to thank Stranger for introducing me to the band... er... man.

Described rather acurately by Metal Archives as "Extreme Gothic Metal," Golden Dawn approaches Gothic Metal interestingly and originally with a slight touch of blackiness, as the band used to be a one man Black Metal project. The vocals range from clean male vocals that sound odd at first but ultimately fit wonderfully with the music, raspy BM growls, and beautiful female vocals. The music on each song is different and of itself with very interesting composition and an impressive use of keyboards to create all forms of sound, effect, and atmosphere. This can be seen particularly clearly on the two instrumentals in their album Masquerade. Certainly worth checking out for anyone into Gothic Metal or for anyone interested in something new.

Disarmonia Mundi is a Gothenburg Melodeath band of incredible originality, their music is full of tastefully used Electronica and, instead of the usual death growls, they make use of a powerful combonation of "Speed" Bjorn's unique vocals and beautiful clean singing. (Don't be put off by the vocals, they're mindbogglingly well done). With driving and powerful music, they make for quite the listening experiance. I suggest Fragments of D-generation for a first listen, then Nebularium and then Mind Tricks. The latter wasn't received with very critical acclaim but I find it a rad album in its own right, so don't fear checking it out.

Disillusion is a German Progressive Metal band who, from their first demo to their first album, Back to Times of Splendor, played a blend of Melodic Death and Prog. With their latest album Gloria, though, they've changed to Progressive with many Industrial and Electronica overtones. All the band's songs are conceptual and connected to stories. The lyrics are incredibly well written and intelligent and fit well to the music that became more and more complex as their career continued. Back to Times of Splendor contains a 15 minute and an 18 minute long song, both of which manage to stay engrossing through impressive songwriting. The vocals, all of which are done by Vurtox, transfer between agressive growling and beautiful and melodic clean singing.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Emperor was one of the pioneers of the second wave of Black Metal in Norway, paving the way alongside bands such as Darkthrone, Mayhem, and Burzum. While many early Black Metal bands had more simplistic song structure, even Emperor's early work was characterized by time changes and great complexity, all amidst Emperor's character synths. Now defunct, Emperor left an imperial legacy of four albums: 1994's In the Nightside Eclipse, 1997's Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, 1999's IX Equillibrium, and 2001's Prometheus- The Discipline of Fire and Demise. The latter, Emperor's farewell album, is an incredibly complex symphonic masterpiece, a testament to Ihsahn's genius. Samoth has changed his stage name to Zamoth and is now in the Death/Black band Zyklon, Ihsahn moved on to make music with his wife Ihriel in Peccatum (now split-up) and at present Ihsahn has his own solo project (see a few posts down for his album).In the Nightside Eclipse (1994)Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk (1997)Thorns vs. Emperor Split (1999)IX Equillibrium (1999)Prometheus- The Discipline of Fire and Demise (2001)

Sunday, November 05, 2006

This is a repost of my previous Green Carnation post. Added is the rest of their discography.

Green Carnation, a project of Carpathian Forest's guitarist Tchort, are an interesting band indeed. They started out playing Death metal, then went on to Doom, and are now Progressive metal with some albums being rock, even. One of their masterpieces is Light of Day, Day of Darkness, a single 60 minute and 6 second long track (the longest metal song ever recorded) which is composed of 600 different samples, resulting in an impressive and complex soundscape. Another impressive album by the band is, their latest, The Acoustic Verses, which marked the 15th anniversary of the band's creation. This album, as can be gleaned from its name, is entirely acoustic and shows a calmer, more thoughtful side of the band. It has another epic song, "9-29-045," which is 15 minutes and 28 seconds long and is split into 3 parts. Another interesting track on the album is "Alone," which is the Edgar Allen Poe poem of the same name put to music! Yeah so I just realized that everything in this post is locked except The Acoustic Verses because I got it off of the iTunes music store. I'm going to get rid of the links to those albums and will try to burn and rerip them as mp3s and then reupload them... if I don't get lazy.

This is the solo project of the legendary Ihsahn, the musical genius who fueled and added to such bands as Emperor and Peccatum. With The Adversary he once again proves his prowess by crafting a brilliant Post-Black Progressive Metal album with complex, stunning and emotional music and inspiring lyrics that encapsulate many of Ihsahn's humanistic Satanic principles. The masterful drum work on this album is done by Asgeir Mickelson of Vintersorg, Borknagar and Spiral Architect. One of the best albums of 2006 and one of my favorite albums of all time. It's worth checking out for any fan of Ihsahn's work, Black Metal, Extreme Prog, or Extreme music in general.

"An ecclectic band rooted in the creative soils of Montreal,Quebec. Mixing elements of black, death, core, progressive and melodic metal ; classical, operatic, medieval, electro, ambient, psychotic, noise and circus music with an occasional jazzy touch. 7 musicians all in all. Their vocal performance range from an extreme to the other as they alternate between glorious choirs; inhuman screams of deep, high, mid-growl and delirious intensity; theatrical narrations; and clean/sober sections strewn with a female singer who's angelic voice could melt the will of the most vile corporate jerk.

Daydreamers and lunar people, the ideas traveling in their art are related to the imagination and the inherent creative power of all human beings, subjective faraway fantasy tales, trancelike sensorial exploration, undercover denunciation of social aspects and subconscious realities.

From their humble beginnings in 1996, the band saw it's share of line-up changes, as only 3 members of this period are still in the band. unexpecT then recorded a full length album called " Utopia " in 1998 which saw the day only in 1999. This first offering was critically acclaimed by many countries around the world ( from Russia to Brazil by the way of the Philippines ) with no distribution whatsoever and with internet as only support. A new era began for these sound-painters with the release of a new surreal opus called _wE, Invaders in November 2003. This EP, released on the label Galy Records in America, caused quite a positive stir with the critics and is the glorious introduction to the following album currently in progress that will smash some dull boundaries of vile standards. They are now signed on the eclectic label The End Records; a new relation that should lead their ambitions to their far reaching goalsthe future is set for a coloured ride, indeed." (From UneXpect's myspace)

Acid Bath are Sludge Doom band that have a very unique sound. They're different from many Sludge bands and not at all representative of Sludge, as they have songs with no yells, acoustic songs, and a few songs that are rather speedy. With their two releases before they split up due to their bassist's death, they carved out their own unique (and brilliant) sound, combined with some truly sinister and evocative lyrics. I'm really not sure how to describe them properly, you just need to hear them for yourself... and you should.